After news comes in about cell towers being set up to tackle Maoists in Visakha Agency, a police raid was held in 10 villages to curb the same. Vizag rural cops and Special Forces recently raided villages in Koyyuru and GK Veedhi mandals in the agency. 60 villagers, suspected to be sympathisers of CPI Maoists, were picked up by the police.
More than 200 cops raided these villages in two mandals and 30 villagers were picked up alone in Pedapadu, Busulu and Pamurai areas of the GK Veedhi mandal. Both the mandals are reportedly under heavy influence of Maoists and the raids started early yesterday. Reportedly, two persons from the GK Veedhi mandal were arrested previously when they were picking up foodgrains for the Maoists on February 2.
While the cops did not reveal these arrests, the arrested were brought in to Vizag for interrogation. Based on their information, these two mandals were raided yesterday with the cops forcibly arresting several tribals. On the other hand, an old man from GK Veedhi told TOI that it reminded him of the time the police raided and torched houses indiscriminately in the 90s in Chintapalli. He further stated that the so called sympathisers only carry food for the Maoists because they are scared of the consequences if they don’t. The Maoists on the other hand call these sympathisers police informers, leaving these villagers between a rock and a hard place.
When the police were asked about the arrests made yesterday, Visakha Rural SP Rahuldev Sharma said that no arrests were made yet, the villagers brought in for counselling will soon be released.
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